Wanna discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. My name is Kevin Smith, and I've got my best friend, Mike Stone, with me on the podcast today. What's up, Mike?
Hey. Hi, Kevin. Good to be with you and good to go through Romans 9. I love this little section of verses. And if we can just start out with a little review by reading Romans 9 16 to 18, and then we'll jump into Romans 9 19.
Absolutely. It is basically one of the classic verses on this whole, God's mercy, which we're gonna talk about and kind of unfold what that exactly is. So let me read that, Romans chapter 9 verses 16 through 18. It says, it does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on god's mercy. For the scripture says to pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. Yeah. So, Paul is bringing in pharaoh as an example of how God decides to do things. Now he didn't harden pharaoh's heart, like, come and, you know, zap them in inside of him and harden him that way. He knew that these plagues would harden pharaoh's heart, so he sent the 10 plagues.
And as a result, and the last plague was the death of pharaoh's son. It angered, pharaoh greatly. Like Right. Right? Because problems are gonna do 1 of 2 things.
They're gonna harden your heart, or they're gonna humble your heart. But god knew these 10 plagues were gonna harden Pharaoh's heart. So he did it this way. But bringing Pharaoh in, though, is just an example that God is gonna do things the way he wants to do things. Well, exactly.
And just to clarify what you just said there, in Exodus, it does say that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. In Exodus 4 21, He says to Moses, go and do all these miracles, and then, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. So this is way before Moses ever came to him. This is Moses and God having a conversation in, Exodus 4/21 that, you know, God is going to harden his heart. Now there are, like, 5 other verses where it says, pharaoh hardened his heart also.
So it's a it's a combination thing, but I think it's the just like it says here in Romans, it's God is doing it to display his power and that his name might proclaimed in all the earth. It's all about god's sovereignty and god's power. And, you know, that in itself I mean, think about Moses. I mean, he's like, okay. I'm gonna go and talk to the pharaoh and do all these miracles, and I know that God just told me what's gonna happen.
And it happened. Yeah. Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And so I see as Paul bringing in pharaoh to give an example of just like you said, God's sovereignty. And this is the way God wants to do it.
Okay? Now the he's talking in 16 that it doesn't depend on human desire or effort. It doesn't depend on the law. The law ended at the cross. You don't come to Christ by your desire or effort, but by faith in Christ.
And faith in Christ is God's mercies. Absolutely. That is the that is the overview plan of God from the very beginning. He wanted to have a path of mercy for the whole world. Okay?
Not just the Jews, you know, not just, Abraham's seed, but it was the the the promise. You know, it was the promised child. Isaac, actually, was the promise through Isaac that faith would come. Abraham had faith that he would have a child, and it's that is what's god's overall plan that through faith, this mercy would come to the whole world. And God chose it that way.
1st Thessalonians 2:13 says that God chose that the way to be saved was through the sanctifying work of the spirit and through belief in the truth. Not through obedience to the law, but through belief in the truth, and God chose that. He chose it that way. Romans 45 says, however, to the one who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. Why?
Because God chose it that way. That's God's mercy. And here, as we jump into Romans 19, it's this is hilarious. And this I'll read 19 to 21. It says one of you will say to me, then why does God still blame us?
For he is able to resist his will. But who are you a human being to talk back to God? Shall what is form say to the one who formed it? Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purpose and some for common use?
And so when I think about this, I'm thinking of somebody who loves to be obedient to the law, and somebody who loves to wanna maintain their salvation through works. And God is saying, no, that's not how I'm doing it here. I'm going to offer you salvation through faith and belief in Jesus, and you will be made right with me. You will be saved by faith in my son, Jesus, and your you can't lose your salvation once you have it. I chose it like this.
So don't talk back to me and say, no. No. No. I'm going to be obedient and be a good person and follow the law and be obedient to the law. And that's what's gonna keep me right with you.
He's saying, don't talk back to me about that. That's right. What does what right does the clay have anything to say to the potter who's forming it in his hand? Think about that. God spoke the world into existence.
When we just sit back and think of the just the grandeur of God, it it should put us in our right humble place to think how awesome he is and to think that he has got this all under control from the very beginning. He had this plan all worked out before the foundations of the world. He had made a way. He knew that his son would be a sacrifice for the whole world. For those for whosoever shall believe, they will have eternal life.
It's as simple as that. And, you know, when the Jews are saying, is it really fear that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it? Do it you know, you're not following my way. And the Jews are saying, it is not fair that the Gentiles could be included in Christ because they haven't pursued righteousness the way we did. Yes.
I mean, there's, like, 3 3 times in this chapter and and the beginning of chapter 10 where it basically compares and contrast the works of the righteousness by faith and the works of the law. And Paul is just hammering that comparison home that it's not that way. And just think about the the analogy, you know, in the gospels where, you know, there's a vineyard owner that, you know, goes out and hires a bunch of people. Some in the very beginning of the day, they go and they work in the vineyard all day long, Some in the 11th hour, they come at the very last minute. Alright?
And then when they go to get paid, the vineyard owner gives them all the money the same. Now think about it this way. The Jews, they were in the vineyard in the very beginning of the day. They were his god's chosen people. They were working, doing all this stuff.
You know, their whole lives revolved around god. And then can Gentiles swagger on in here at the very last minute, and they get paid the same. That is the picture of the whole gospel, including the Jews. Now, you know, there's a remnant of Jews that will be saved. The Bible says that even here in chapter 9, but not all Jews are gonna be saved, not all Gentiles are gonna be saved, but, you know, the the point is those who are entered by faith, they're all gonna get paid the same.
And there's no one nobody can say, oh, I worked 11 hours and you only worked 1. Yeah. That's right. It's the one who does not work but trust God whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. So let's go on in 22.
What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and to make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, that's all people, whom he prepared in advance for glory, even us, whom he also called, Not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. Mhmm. He's trying to say, hey, the Gentiles, I understand they didn't pursue righteousness. Just like you said, I understand they relate to the game.
But Yeah. By faith and faith alone, they can receive my very son and be born again and be made right with him. And then it goes on to say in verse 25, Kevin, as he says in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people. Those are the Gentiles. And I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one.
And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. There they will be called children of the living God. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. Yes. That's because the gospel had has gone out to the Gentiles.
That happened in Acts 28 when Paul finally made the statement that I've had it with the Jews. I am going to the Gentiles because they will listen. And so that's where we're at today. We're in the church. We're the age of the Gentiles.
I mean, I was just gonna say when you were talking about reading the, verses from Hosea, just you gotta think of the context that Paul was writing this to these Jewish people in Rome, that it had to be a huge, huge slap in the face. I mean, it the the gospel is offensive. And it's offensive to those people who, like the Jews, are trying to earn their salvation by works. I had a conversation with somebody today that is offended with me that I'm talking about this this grace, this mercy. Yeah.
No, no, no. You need to work out your salvation with fear and troubling. You need to be afraid of God. You need to, you know, avoid sin. And of course, we're avoiding sin.
But the problem is anything that's not a faith is sin. And so things happen, but we are forgiven one time at the cross. So we don't wanna focus on not sinning because that's what makes us sin. Amen to that. Focus on Jesus Christ.
Is that you you're not gonna draw near to a God who you you think is wrathful to you and, you know, is holding every sin against you. You will draw near to a God who has taken all of your sins and place them on his son, Jesus Christ, once and for all, forgiveness for once in all time for everybody. And it was done once at the cross, and that is that is God's way of mercy that he is saying right here. That's how he chose. He wanted to do it.
Yeah. And who are you to talk back to me? So let me just finish up in 28. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality. Hey, that's in the book of Revelation, when there's people in line for the judgment seat.
And when God will ask them, what did you do with my son? Did you put your faith in Jesus? In 29, it says, it is just as Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. So, yeah, Paul is really laying it out there to the Jews that the Gentiles can come to Christ by faith, and so can you. If you just lay down your legalism and your law and come to Christ by faith and faith alone, you too can be saved.
Yeah. I love that verse, verse 28. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on the earth with speed and finality. Last night, we're having dinner with a dear friend of ours, and we're just talking about, you know, the world and our city, Chicago, and just how bad things are happening. And, you know, it kinda came up.
He's like, I would be I would be glad to be raptured tomorrow. How about it? I mean, because and I just said, you know what? And I I I know you and I have talked revelation a lot, and we can. I'd love to talk more to you about it, but, oh my gosh.
It's it's gonna be it's gonna be bad, man. It's gonna be bad. But, you know, we we are on the beginning of birth pangs on it. So praise God for this verse. I hope it is very speedy and with finality that the Lord carries out and sent us on the earth.
So Yeah. Let's read, Romans 30 to 33, Kevin. You wanna read that? This is this is the actual huge part of this whole chapter. This is the concluding thing.
Let me read it. Verse 30 says, what then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it? A righteousness that is by faith, but Israel who pursued a law of righteousness has not attained it. Why not?
Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, see, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. So that stone that is laid in Zion, if you don't see that, it is Jesus Christ.
He laid a stone, a stumbling in Zion. And the stumbling stone is you don't do things to get right with God. You are right with God, and that's God's mercy. It doesn't seem fair. And it didn't seem fair to the the Israel.
It doesn't seem fair to people today. He says, look all the things that I've done for this ministry or this church, and and yet this Johnny come lately just walks in and puts his faith in Christ and he's saved? Yeah. Really? Amen.
And that angers people. That hardens their heart, not only towards the person walking in, but towards God. Mostly towards God because they've been so busy trying to earn their so but, you know, the key to the whole verse is the last sentence in it, and it says, and the one who trusts in him, that is Jesus, will never be put into shame. It's simply trusting by faith in the work of Jesus Christ. I mean, it's how much simpler can it be?
Yeah. And it's back to Romans 5. We read earlier that the one who does not work but trusts God, who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. So if you've done that, and if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, that he rose from the dead, that he took away your sins, you are saved. You have been made right with God.
Mhmm. And he lives in you. And here's the greatest news, he'll never leave you again because all of your sins have been taken away. It's a one time sacrifice for sins. And if we can just get our arms around that, then we'll be able to help others and tell other people that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not counting people's sins against them.
That's right, friends. And, as Mike just said that, I wanna read first John 513 to you. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. So it doesn't say that you may hope that you have eternal life, that you may feel like you have eternal life. It says that you may know that you have eternal life if you believe in the name of the son of god.
So friends, if this is the first time you ever heard about this gospel of Jesus Christ, it is simply saying to god, there is no way in this world that I am good enough to do enough to be right in your eyes. And I understand what you did on the cross with your son, the perfect sacrifice for my sin 2000 years ago. And I believe that makes me right in your eyes. That's that's the real deal right there, friend. So accept that.
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